Diggin In The Crates Vol. 1

From time to time I’ll jump into my mental time capsule to pay homage to some of the athletes and events that may have been forgotten by others, but not us.

Ernie Shavers: His 7th round knockdown of Larry Holmes on 9/28/79 came too late in the round. If “The Black Destroyer” had another 45-60 seconds, he would’ve finished Holmes.

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Nate “Tiny” Archibald: My mom was so impressed with Tiny’s play against the 76’ers in the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals she bought a color T.V. because she “Had to see that little guy play in color.”

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Bernard King: Back to Back 50 point games, an epic battle against Isaiah Thomas in the the ’84 Playoffs and a triumphant return after knee surgery. All that was missing was a spot on the NBA’s top 50 list.

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Marvin Barnes: One of the more flamboyant athletes of the 1970’s; Because of his inability to understand time zones, Barnes once declared, “I ain’t gettin’ on no time machine.” He was reluctant to board a flight that left Louisville at 8 a.m and land in St. Louis at 7:59 a.m.

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Art Monk: No. 81 retired as the first receiver with 900 receptions, the most receptions in a single season (106) and the most consecutive games with a reception (183). If another receiver gets elected into the NFL HOF before he does, they need to elect a new committee. More on this later.

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Artis Gilmore: One of the forgotten big men in NBA history. Ineligible from HOF consideration again until 2012, no player with comparable career numbers (ABA: 22.3 ppg, 17.1 rpg, NBA: 17.1 ppg, 10.1 rpg) has been omitted from such an honor.

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Flo Hyman: At 6’5″ and a spike delivery of 110 mph, it is no wonder that she is widely considered the greatest volleyball player ever.

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Alex English: The leading NBA scorer of the 1980’s, English was also left off of the NBA’s top 50 players list. His game reflected his demeanor… smooth.

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Willie O’Ree: The first Black man to play in the NHL; I believe I have a new assignment coming up.

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Joe Gilliam: The Steelers benched him as a starter in favor of Terry Bradshaw in 1974. No one, not even Bradshaw could understand why, but we know better than that. Don’t we?

Ahh, you’re taking part in every boxing fans’ favorite past time, underestimating Larry Holmes. Even with another 60 seconds, he wouldn’t have taken Holmes out. Look at how well Holmes was able to hold him off for the rest of that round. He was skilled enough to keep that up.

I don’t underestimate Holmes as a fighter at all. He is probably the most underappreciated champion ever, he was in a no win situation when he fought Ali and MSM wil never forgive him for what he said about Rocky Marciano. I give Holmes credit for fighting all comers; Mike Weaver, Renaldo Snipes, Ken Norton and Bonecrusher Smith. But I don’t think he could’ve taken too many more shots like that from Shavers.

My most vivid memory of Artis Gilmore is of Julius Erving bringing the pain right to his grille! One of the best dunks of all time – precisely because every one looked (and was) so small next to Gilmore.

RE: Holmes vs Shavers- classic from the golden era of heavyweight boxing in the 70s. Shavers got off a good one on Holmes but he couldn’t win because like Cossell kept saying he just started swinging wildly hoping to land the knockout. If he had stayed within himself and pressed the action like Holmes did he may have went the distance and probably pulled out a decision. I’m no fan of Holmes because I always found his style boring when I really started to pay attention to boxing after he beat Ali in ’81 but he used the ‘science’ in the ‘sweet science’ by pulling that one out. From what I’ve read he had some real battles in the late 70’s when he was on the rise but just like every other shorty around that time I was in love with Ali so nobody could tell me anything about a Holmes, Spinks, Shavers, or Norton. It was Ali and Ali only.

RE: The NBA players left off that 50 Greatest List still chaps my behind and don’t get me started about Shaq over ‘Nique before he had even accomplished anything and someone like Walton over Bernard King? Oh well, like you said about why Broad Street Joe Gilliam was benched we all know why Walton and others were on that list.

I remember a couple of photos of Doc catchin’ Gilmore it’s one that I remember in black and white, probably an ABA game. Artis always looked taller than 7 ft. to me. Maybe it was the wingspan and the super short short.s

As far as the “Top 50″ I would’ve taken someone out (I’m thinking Pippen) and put English in. I mean damn dude did score 22,451 pts. in the 1980’s. But Scottie was a contributor on those Bull’s title teams and could guard all five positions if he had to.